A televised live Palm Sunday rock musical in the streets, no Asian food on Pearl Harbor Day
— and Carville's betting on Cruz.

DA PASSION OF DA CHRISTAccording to Roger Friedman of Showbiz411, Fox TV is going to broadcast a live event from the streets of New Orleans on Palm Sunday — and it's The Passion, a rock musical based on the Last Supper. (Huh?) "The two hour musical extravaganza will be a live (yes, LIVE) restaging of the Last Supper set to modern rock songs," Friedman wrote. "I'm told that hundreds of New Orleans extras will take part in a processional walking a huge illuminated cross from the Superdome to a park on the river. What's not clear is if they go through with the crucifixion and resurrection, or if it stops there and turns into Mardi Gras."

Sounds like a cross between two ill-fated New Orleans productions — last year's all-star stage version of Jesus Christ Superstar (which was canceled, literally, in mid-rehearsal) and Saturday Night Live: Live From Mardi Gras, a notoriously disastrous 1977 TV special. At press time, Mayor Mitch Landrieu's administration had not returned an email requesting details about The Passion. ...

CHOPSTICKS VERBOTENLouisiana-born Erick Erickson — radio talk show host, editor-in-chief of RedState.com and syndicated contributor to The Times-Picayune — recalled his family's unusual Pearl Harbor Day tradition last week. "Growing up, I remember my parents never letting us have Asian food on December 7th," he tweeted.

J.K. Trotter of Gawker contacted Erickson's mother, Kathleen Erickson, who told the reporter, "I've never heard that before," and added, "Whatever you heard, I think that is completely your idea. I have never heard of that before. Somebody is making that up about my son." When Trotter inquired further, Mrs. Erickson asked what he thought of Jesus Christ, said she would add him to her prayer list and hung up ...

ECONOMIST: NOLA 911 A DISASTER"In New Orleans, Call 911 and Wait For an Hour" was the headline on The Economist's story about police response times in New Orleans, which compared our problems to those of Detroit. "While Detroit's dysfunction has been well-documented, New Orleans has in many ways been on an upswing in recent years, making its laggard response times more puzzling. Unlike Detroit, it population and tax base are both growing steadily," the article said. "The most obvious answer is a police department whose ranks of sworn officers have shrunk by about one-quarter since 2010, the year Mayor Mitch Landrieu took office." ...

TOUSSAINT TRIBUTE IN NYCThe Village Voice's Larry Blumenfeld had a respectful writeup of a tribute to the late Allen Toussaint, which was staged in New York City Nov. 29. Jon Batiste and Davell Crawford were among the performers, and Blumenfeld concluded, "A petition circulated recently in New Orleans to replace a prominent statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee with one of Toussaint. That sounds about right. There ought to be one in New York City, too, where Toussaint's stature grew yet further, and where he claimed his own righteous place." ...

CARVILLE BETS ON CRUZNew Orleans political pundit James Carville told Politico that his money in the 2016 GOP presidential nomination race was on Texas Sen. Ted Cruz — literally. He bet on Cruz on the website PredictIt.com. Why? Carville's wife Mary Matalin threw a Cruz fundraiser at the couple's home, and impressed Carville: "He's smart, he has a message and he's positioned himself just right in this race."